A reform too late

The Solicitor General's advice for governments considering retrospective legislation is "to consider whether the general public interest in the law not being changed retrospectively may be outweighed by any competing public interest".

The Solicitor General's advice for governments considering retrospective legislation is "to consider whether the general public interest in the law not being changed retrospectively may be outweighed by any competing public interest".

However a spokesman for the DWP said the Pension Protection Fund, which will stop future workers suffering the same misery as ASW employees, could not be backdated. The Treasury is said to be sitting on a report on their case.

He added, "The Pension Protection Fund cannot be retrospective because it will act as an insurance policy for those in final salary schemes so therefore the fund itself cannot compensate for schemes which have already gone bust.

"We will continue to look at other suggestions which have been put to us but we cannot pretend there are any easy solutions."